In August, I finished up a 20-hour anatomy based training at Boston Yoga Union, led by Ame Wren. I love―have always loved―anatomy and want to know everything about how the body works. And everything about how my body works. What we told yoga students about anatomy ten years ago is not what we tell them today, and won’t be, probably, what we tell them five years from now. As a society, we keep learning more about mechanics, the ways our systems intersect, and the variety of presentations from person to person. We are wise, as yoga teachers, to simultaneously adapt the way we lead students through asana. I was ravenous for the information I learned during the course (Anatomy of a Yogi) and I’ve since been working hard on how to better instruct the students who practice with me, and how to more quickly see and interpret the patterns they display in their bodies.
I also had two opportunities this month to work with special populations: the incoming freshmen athletes at Tufts University, who were all legs and nervous energy and barely concealed bewilderment; and a gathering of children aged 3-9 from the Harvard Graduate Housing community, who were a chorus of multiple languages and uncontrolled limbs and sweet curiosity. This yoga life has brought me in contact with so many kinds of people, and this month has reinforced my belief that the practice is accessible to everyone and every body. Each of us can find a space to work.
August by the numbers:
- 48 classes
- 438 students (we’re back! up 30% from last month)
- 53 hours
- 12 locations
Some sweet and silly student feedback:
- Thanks for a lovely practice. It was transcendent. 100% witchcraft level yoga.
- It’s my favorite thing to you look forward to on Mondays. Everything else, bleh. This makes it all worth it.
- Tuesdays are as equally hard as Mondays.
- I have a simple request for class: air conditioning.
- I’ve really been looking forward to this today.
- That was. So nice. Thank you.
- This is a no-pants zone. [Ed: Just to be crystal clear, this was said to an infant during a Mommy + Baby class, where diaper changing is par for the course.]
SomerJill 